Listen how they say your name. If they can't say that right, there's no way they're going to know how to treat you proper, neither.

One definition of eternity is that we are not alone on this planet, that there are those who've gone before and those who will come, and that there is a community of spirits.

To me, a poem is almost like someone whispering to another person, or you hear the whispering in your head. I hope with my own poems that the reader feels a connection, soul to soul, that'll help us all feel a little less alone on the planet. And it does have the power to direct change. A writer can make the word 'dark' be something positive. You can relieve a word like 'hysterical' of its misogynistic implications. You can make the language your own. That's what poetry is about.

Have you ever heard a good joke? If you've ever heard someone just right, with the right pacing, then you're already on the way to poetry. It's about using words in very precise ways and using gesture.

The joy of working at something to find out what it means to me is what I grew up with.

I prefer to explore the most intimate moments, the smaller, crystallized details we all hinge our lives on.

I keep the drafts of each poem in color-coded folders. I pick up the folders according to how I feel about that color that day.